Using Basic Access Authentication

Some Web services require authentication, such as a user name and a password. In one common method, called basic access authentication, this information is included in the HTTP header of the Web service call. SBM Composer supports basic access authentication for individual Web service operations within an orchestration workflow.

For example, you can create two working data elements to hold a user name and a password, enter text as default values, and set up the Authentication input's UserName and Password components for multiple Service steps to use those working data elements. That way, if the user name or password changes, you only need to update the two working data elements to keep all of the Service steps set up to call the Web service.

Important: The UserName and Password values are ignored if an administrator configures the basic access authentication type for the endpoint pointing to the Web service manually in Application Repository. In this case, the credentials specified in Application Repository are used instead of those specified in this procedure. Process apps are more portable if the Application Repository credentials are used, because you can bind to the appropriate endpoint for your environment when you deploy.

To use basic access authentication:

Select an orchestration workflow to display it in the orchestration workflow editor.
Select a Service step for which you want to set up basic access authentication.
On the General tab of the Property Editor, make sure the Service step is associated with a Web service and an operation, and that the Web service supports basic access authentication.
In the orchestration workflow editor, right-click the Service step, and then select Use Basic Access Authentication.

This adds the Authentication step input (with the UserName and Password data elements), to the Data Mapping tab of the Property Editor. These data elements can be used for the Service step and for any other Service steps in the orchestration workflow that are associated with the same Web service operation.
For each of the Service steps to which the Authentication step input was added, do one of the following for both the UserName and Password data elements:
- In the Source elements column:
  1. Click the down arrow.
  2. In the Select a source tool that opens, select the source value to be used from some location in the workflow, such as the output of another Service step or a working data element.
  3. Click OK.
- In the Default values box, type the value to be used.

Using Basic Access Authentication

Related Topics